


The Flame Haired Girl

by Cabajifika



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alcoholic!Keyleth, Alcoholic!Vax, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Percahlia, Eventual Smut, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vaxleth - Freeform, pretentious!percy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 09:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8706688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cabajifika/pseuds/Cabajifika
Summary: Vax has always seen the girl on the other end of the bar, but has never had to the courage to speak to her.





	

It's Thursday; it might be Wednesday, the days have blurred together. Work, drink, sleep, at this point all I do. There’s very little to keep me going, my sister and the hippy ginger who’s at the bar every day. She’s timid, sits with her head down, and leaves small scuff marks when she walks. Her hair up most days, I assume the days she comes here from work, others her hair looks like flames cascading down her shoulders. Her eyes stand in stark contrast to the flames are bright green, and when light hits them, a golden light enters them. Every drink I have, I say one more glass, and then I’ll get off my ass to talk to her, this has yet to come to fruition.

\-------

There he was again. Normally, his hair was down to his lower black; now he had cut it down to his ears- choppy and uneven. I like it better; the light reflects through it. He wore his typical black jeans, white at the knees from use. His shirt, a slightly different black, was tucked into his belt He walks in with a false confidence that disappears once he slumps down into a burdened position that won’t leave until he gets up and then will return when he inevitably comes back.  
I don’t know his name, and with my charisma, I’ll never will. All I know is that he takes up too many of my thoughts, and I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t the last thing I saw before I went to sleep each night.  
Matt, the bartender on Thursday, took my nearly empty glass and replaced it.  
“Thanks, this is gonna be my last one” I mumbled into my drink, knowing and hoping, to a degree, that it would be true. I sipped at it for a full half an hour, pausing only to look/glance at, never long enough for him to notice. The rest of the time I spent occasionally watching the clock that hung above the liquor cabinets and becoming even more familiar with the details of the table. I downed the rest of my drink and briskly walked out and into the brisk air, head down. I walked down the two blocks to the shoddy apartment building where I stayed with my roommate, Percy. He spends most of his time in his room working on one project or another.  
I unlocked the door and gave it a solid shove. It swung out of the door frame with a pop, I stumbled at the loss of support, and due to the little motor control, I have left.  
“So, how many did you have tonight?” asks a lightly accented voice, somewhere between humor and concern. He sat on the couch, his white hair impeccably styled, his round glasses sitting annoying low on his nose, Ironically, he was drinking. Cheap scotch, per broke-pretentious usual. The only timed you’d see Percy in less than perfect is if you caught him unaware while working on some old truck someone brought into his shop.  
“I don’t remember,” I say honestly.  
“Listen, your current circumstances work in my favor; you're smashed.” He said smugly “You remember the tattoo artist who I’ve gone on a few dates with?”  
“Vex'ahlia.”  
“Yes her, she wants to go on a double date, her brother, much like you is tragically single, and I offered you as a suitable date for him on the double date we're going on Friday.”  
“Do I have a choice?” I slurred  
“Ah…. No. Not at all!” I opened my mouth to murmur something in resignation, and at the same time too a few steps forward almost instantaneously losing my balance and falling on the couch nearly spilling Percy’s scotch. 

\-----------

“Brother darling.”  
“Yes, sister dear?”  
“Would you do me an... itty bitty favor?” Vex smiles.  
“Probably.”  
“Meet me at The Rouge, tonight at 7, and do wear something nice.”  
She winked as she hurried out the door her green book bag flying over her shoulder as the wind from the door hit my face.

•••  
The Rogue isn’t the nicest place to spend your evening, but if you're on a budget, it's not bad. From the outside, you can see the faint glow from the tinted windows, here laughter from the barely agar door. The windows are trimmed in a red cross contrasting with the dark grey paneling that covers the rest of the building. The door is a heavy black with small gold knockers, and looking up slightly you can see “The Rogue” written in a slightly cursive text.  
“Hello” I hear from an all too familiar voice accompanied by a moist finger in the ear.  
“Hey, why are we here?” I asked, wanting to see the redhead tonight rather than spending it at a cheap Chinese restaurant.  
“Well Percy has a friend, and he said he’d fix our car if you came with me on a double date with us and some girl named Keyleth.” That's when I saw the white haired dipshit that's dating my sister and a familiar girl, green eyes reflected in a matching green dress, to nice for the occasion. 6 pieces of thin fabric come from the lower neckline and up to from straps, showing off her… Her hair is styled so that her normally messy waves are now neat, and ever so slightly curled. But the most surprising thing is her facial expression going from shock, to excitement, to fear and then her normal timid expression while her eyes go back to examining the floor.  
“Hello, my dear,” Percy said placing a small kiss on my sister's cheek. “Vax’ildan, this is Keyleth. Keyleth this is Vax’ildan.”  
“Hello Keyleth, Freddie’s being overly proper, call me Vax.” The use of “Freddie” gaining a slightly amused, although mostly annoyed look from Percival.  
“I - It’s nice to meet you, v- v- Vax.”

\------

I finally knew his name. Vax. Although of course, my damned social skills prevented an otherwise normal interaction.  
“You must be freezing in that dress.” He said confidently draping his worn leather jacket over my shoulder. I glanced away from him quickly, trying not to stare too long at his thin, toned arms, meeting Vax’ahlia’s eye instead. She winked at him over my shoulder, and he returned with a glare that made his normally sad eyes turn slightly murderous. Percy took the initiative, put an arm around Vex’s waist and strode over to the entrance of the restaurant.  
The jacket smelled  
“My dear,” Vax said presenting his arm for me to grab on too, his tone and faked accent seemed to mock his sister. I latched on feeling my cheeks rise into a smile. “It’s good to finally know your name.” He didn’t mean for me to hear it, but it gave me a small boost of confidence.  
The inside of the restaurant has booths with the holes poked in the fake leather, some of them in particular disarray, have stuffing spilling from them. The tables that are scattered throughout the room have mismatched chairs around them and the tables themselves all of leans in in different directions. An uninterested waitress waved us toward one of the booth next to a group of college kids, all of them, sprawled out and laughing. 

\------

The room was a blur, all I could focus on was the mob of red hair that was in my lower left vision, and if I looked passed it I could see her low neckline. From the the other end of the bar she was pretty but in person she was gorgeous. I was ecstatic that I my wonderful sister had made me come tonight, and nervous that my overwhelming feelings would not be reciprocated. As I continued to look at her I couldn't help but wonder what colour her underwear was. I imaged a pair of a matching black lace underwear. I shouldn't be thinking about this, this is our first date and she only knows my name.

\------

His arm stayed around my waist even when we sat down on the sticky and slightly damp leather booth. His arms where securing making me forget about the majority of adulthood and the terrors of being younger. Vex'ahlia looked like him but her eyes had less character. Her black hair was pulled back in a braid with blue feathers sticking out of the bottom. Her skin was also darker, making her hair look less black. Her facial features were similar although she had slight smile lines where Vax'ildan did not. I noticed vax looking down my the low neckline of my dress, and where normally I would feel invaded, with him I did not. I couldn't help but wondered what he look like without his shirt on, although it being as tight as it was didn't leave much to the imagination, but I'm not complaining.

 

Vex giggled about something percy had whispered in her ear. "What do you guys think I should eat, not that I can't pick for myself, but I've never eaten here and would like your input..." 

 

"I don't recommend the lo mein, I haven't ordered it without something... odd being it. But there chicken is good, sesame or sweet and sour." Said Vex. 

 

"The fried duck is also excellent." Recommended Percy, laughing slightly at what I could only assume was my charismatic skill. "They also have excellent soups, they’re probably the best value-wise, I have never heard about anyone eating the whole thing alone."

 

"Maybe you two could share one." Vex said, giving a knowing glance at Vax.

 

"That's not a bad idea... If you want, not that you have to, but it would be cheaper and I typically don't eat a lot and I hate wasting food, and I don't think Percy would approve of keeping soup in the fridge and messing up his organization." I trailed off as Vax gave a small laugh 

 

"We can share a soup, and now I know how to piss off Freddie, thank you." I scolded myself internally for over-explaining and over-compensating. Percy says it's endearing, but I doubt someone has put together as Vax would think so. 

 

The soup forced us to sit closer than I would assume people generally sit on a date, but I only have one frame of reference, and that I don’t think counts. 

\------

She was even more perfect up close. She smelled like sage and lavender, and had small freckles that were nearly invisible dotted across her nose and cheekbones. Her green dress fit her figure perfectly, showing off her supple frame and the curve of her hips.. Her waist was slim, and fit my hand perfectly.  
As much as I would have liked to spend the night talking to her, she seemed happy that there were others there, maybe hoping that her near-silence would go unnoticed.  
The dinner was filled with meaningless small talk and my sister and Percival being all too touchy.  
“If my darling brother doesn’t mind,” My sister gave me a poignant look, “It would be simply sublime if you’d come over to our place after dinner.”  
“I’ll make sure to wear earplugs” I half-jokingly replied. “You guys are done, if you want to leave now go ahead, I don’t want to keep you and I think that the wonderful lady next to me would agree.”  
“Oh, you guys go on, you can leave too Vax’ildan, It’ll take me a while to finish this soup, unless, I guess, you might not be done either, so you can stay too.” Her speech was rushed, her eyes wide and nervous. .  
“Well, if you insist.” Percival rose, offering one hand to Vex and, a moment later, putting the other lower than typically accepted on my sister’s back.

 

A few minutes passed where nothing was said, an amiable, comfortable sort of silence. I let the time pass.  
“So how are you?”  
“Good. Well that’s not true. I guess it is;can you be good and nervous? I don’t think so, but I’m not bad and nervous, so… You?”  
“Happy, seeing as I finally know your name and don’t have to refer to you as ‘the girl from the bar’ when speaking to my sister.” To my delight this caused her let out a small laugh which in turn caused me to beem.  
“And I don’t have to refer to you as the guy from the bar to Percy.” The way she spoke was slightly more confident, and far less ramby. I hopped this was a sign of her comfort.  
“I’m sick of this sleazy restaurant, would you like to go for a walk?” Rather than a reply she grabbed my coat and put it on. I left 30$ on the table, knowing it would cover the bill and more, and sauntered towards the door with the flame haired girl on my arm.

 

“I live here” nodding towards an apartment, “We can go in they're rather than walking or we can keep walking, I just thought I should tell you where we where seeing as I live here and all… Or I could just go back give you your coat back so that you can go home, you probably have work tomorrow, although you come to the bar earlier on fridays, maybe you don’t work fridays, and now I’m not only rambling but also sound like a stalker.” She looked down ashamed. 

 

“Your rambling is adorable.” I said pulling her chin up gently with two fingers, so that her green eyes met mine, before leaning down and pressing my lips against hers.


End file.
